Building that served as home to La Majada restaurant now fully leased

The folks that brought you Scratch On Lake in Oak Park and Scratch Kitchen in Forest Park are at it again – but this time on Harrison Street in the Oak Park Arts District.

It will be the second Oak Park restaurant opening this year for Patrick O'Brien, who launched Scratch On Lake, 733 Lake St., in March.

The restaurant also is a milestone for Brand & Co., which signed the lease with O'Brien as the final tenant in the building formerly occupied by the Mexican-food restaurant La Majada.

The building, located in the 200 block of Harrison Street and painted a distinctive lime green, was rebranded as Harrison + Harvey and is also home to Tapster Robotics, Happy Apple Pie Shop and Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects.

O'Brien said he is in the early stages of developing the restaurant and is still working to get various permits from the village. He aims to have the restaurant open by Oct. 31.

He said the restaurant will be called District Kitchen and Tap and will have a different menu and feel from the Scratch restaurants.

He also plans to offer "on the dough" salads, he said, which allows patrons to order salads – grilled Caesar, Cobb, import prosciutto, and more – on flavored pizza crusts.

"The menu is really shareable and fun and we want the place to echo that," he said.

The 2,500-square-foot space will have a "Cheers"-like atmosphere, O'Brien said, referencing the 1980s television show.

District Kitchen and Tap also will offer an extensive selection of local craft beers, such as Kinslahger, O'Brien said.

He first became aware of the property a few months ago when he was contacted by Brand & Co. principal Adam Friedberg.

He met with Oak Park Arts District Business Association president Laura Maychruk and was sold on the area.

"We talked about traffic and real estate [in the area] and her business [Buzz Café]," O'Brien said. "There are a lot of reasons something needed to be [at the Harrison Harvey] location."

Friedberg said the location has access to public transportation and gets a lot of street traffic from the nearby Eisenhower Expressway. He noted that the area has plenty of parking and new businesses are opening up.

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